Contact lenses are after all, a "foreign body". As such, prolonged wearing of contact lenses can indeed cause certain problems if proper care is not taken:
1) Most common problems are dry eyes and allergic conjunctivitis. These may make wearing contact lenses increasingly uncomfortable. In some cases, the allergic conjunctivitis manifest as chronic red and irritated eyes, with sudden sharp pain, fluctuation and blurring of vision.
2) Significant dry eyes can also lead to a higher risk of infection (cornea ulcers) as the dry spots act as entry ports for germs to gain access to the cornea. In mild cases, cornea ulcers can resolve with a course or two of antibiotic eyedrops. However, unfortunate cases may end up needing admission to hospital for intensive eyedrop treatment often every hour and through the night. Severe cases of infection can end up with cornea scars that reduce vision and exclude them from future LASIK surgeries. Rare cases may even require cornea transplant to clear the infection.
2) If the material of the contact lens is not sufficiently oxygen-permeable (not able to allow enough oxygen to reach the cornea) the cornea may develop small new blood vessels from its rim, which can become problematic when there is inflammation or infection.
To reduce your risk of contact-lens wear related problems, take care of the following:
1) Contact lens hygiene. Ensure strict hand hygiene when handling contact lenses. Wash and dry your hands. Tap water may harbour germs too! Choose daily disposable contact lenses if possible as they have less storage problems.
2) The better-tolerated contact lenses have higher oxygen permeability, which is calculated by a formula called DK/T. Try to ask about it.
3) Keep the eyes moist. Use lubricating eyedrops when necessary. There are labels that are compatible with contact lens wear. Look for them at the contact lens practitioners'.
4) Rest your eyes. Try to minimize hours of wear (I know this is tough…)
5) Get an eye check when things don't feel right. A proper examination at an eye doc's to make sure it is not anything serious can lead to earlier diagnosis and treatment, before big trouble begins.
6) Consider refractive surgery. If it is simply getting too much to cope with contact lenses and glasses, get a LASIK /ICL suitability test done. These can be highly satisfactory when done right.
All the best there. Cheerio!
Daphne Han
